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90 Pleasant View Ave, Smithfield, RI 02917

Mission Statement
Smithfield High School graduates will possess a common core of knowledge and skills to become life-long learners, analytical thinkers, effective communicators, and productive members of the global community.

Introductions


Smithfield covers 26.6 square miles of land with a population of 21,000 people. Smithfield Senior High School is located in Smithfield, Rhode Island. Glocester, North Smithfield, Lincoln, North Providence and Johnston surround Smithfield in Providence County. Smithfield High School is a four-year public high school. It is the only high school in the district and has a student body of 787 kids. The principle is Daniel P. Kelley, who won the 2011-2012 Principle of the Year Award for Rhode Island in his sixth year at the position. Smithfield offers numerous courses at the AP level as well as a variety of sport teams and clubs to be a part of. This school is one of the top high schools in the state by academic and economic standards and this report will show that.
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Community Background


Smithfield is a predominantly white town like much of Providence County. 95.7% (20,507) of Smithfield’s population is white, 1.2% black, 1.3% Asian, 2.2% Hispanic and 0.1% American Indian. Smithfield is a rather affluent town that has major companies like Fidelity Investments that have grown the counties wealth for the past twenty years. Smithfield’s median household income is $71,777, which is much higher then the country ($51,914) and state ($54,902) medians. The median family income of Smithfield is also higher at $94,930 compared to the states, $70,663 and the countries $62,982. Only 2.4% of all families in Smithfield are below the poverty line compared to statewide, 8.4%, and countrywide, 10.1%. The number of people below the poverty line rises a little in Smithfield, 4.0% but is still much lower then the 12.2% statewide and the 13.8% in all of the United States. Smithfield is above state average in most economic and educational statistics.

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Smithfield District Students from Various Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds

Smithfield’s child population is 3,625 kids according to the 2010 Census, out of a state consisting of 223,956 kids. The percentage of children living in families below the federal poverty threshold in Smithfield is 2.6% compared to Rhode Island’s 16.7%. However, the sample size for this fact was so small for Smithfield that there is a high margin of error, emphasizing the overall wealth of the town. Only 229 people use food stamp programs in Smithfield while the state has 59,652. 15% of students participate in the School Breakfast program when statewide participation is 28%. Per 1,00 girls ages 15 to 19, teen birthrate in Smithfield is at 3.3%, much lower then the state average 27%. Child abuse and neglect rate per 1,000 children for Smithfield is 4.2% and state average is 13.3%. Rate of incarcerated parents in Smithfield is 4.2% while statewide its 10.4%. All of these statistics show that Smithfield is an overall safe, healthy town to grow up and attend school in. The low percentage of teen birthrate, the lack of high poverty rates and stable families all directly help Smithfield have 94% of their senior’s in 2011 say they are planning on attending college, compared to a statewide average of 90%. A community that allows so many of its students to reach high school graduation (92.1%) and then they plan to continue education is one that reflects the strength and stability of the town.


District Summary

Smithfield Senior High School’s 11th grade NECAP scores are much higher in every subject compared to the state’s averages. Rhode Island’s math score average is 30% while Smithfield’s is 36%, the state’s reading score is 76% while Smithfield’s is 82%, the state’s writing score is 51% while Smithfield’s is 64%, and the state’s science score is 26% while Smithfield’s is 45%. Statewide only 1% of all teachers are teaching with an Emergency Certification, none of which are in Smithfield. Smithfield only has 1% of all its teachers who are not Highly Qualified while the state uses 3%. Smithfield districts teacher to student ration is 1 to 10 compared to the states 1 to 11. 13% of the Smithfield District student body qualifies for subsidized lunch while 44% statewide does. Smithfield’s high school attendance rate is 95% to Rhode Island’s 92%. Smithfield’s graduation rate is 92.1% while its drop out rate is on 3.7%. The state of Rhode Island’s graduation rate is 77.2% and its drop out rate is 12.5%. Smithfield’s high school stability index is at 92% while the states sits at 85%. Reflectively, Smithfield’s mobility index is at 8% while the states is at 17%. Per pupil spending by function detail for the Smithfield district is 13,943 and the statewide is 15,014.

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State of Rhode Island % of total spending by function summary.

School Analysis


Smithfield Senior High School is the lone high school in the town of Smithfield. Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) is an assessment on a schools progress needed, in 2011 both Barrington and Smithfield made the AYP set for both but Central Falls did not make it. Barrington’s classification was “commended” Smithfield’s classification was “met”, and Central Falls classification was “insufficient progress, 9 years in need of improvement”. Smithfield’s NECAP scores and overall performance places itself in between Barrington High School and Central Falls High School pushing towards Barrington’s results. Smithfield’s math score is 36%, much higher then Central Falls 7%, but far away from Barrington’s 69%. Smithfield’s reading score is 83%, again much higher then Central Falls 41%, but closer to Barrington’s 93%. Smithfield’s writing score is 64%, once again higher then Central Falls 18%, and even closer to Barrington’s 69%. Smithfield’s science score is 45%, Central Falls again has a low score of 6%, and Barrington has a higher score of 57%. These 11th grade NECAP results paint the picture that by economic standards, Smithfield is closer in relation to Barrington’s make up then Central Falls, explaining why the scores fall where they fall. This pattern of Barrington receiving the highest grade, while Smithfield is behind slightly and Central Falls finishes way below the two continues. Barrington’s SAT math average is a 576, Smithfield’s is a 502 and Central Falls is a 374. Barrington’s SAT reading average is a 554, Smithfield’s is a 503 and Central Falls is a 381. Barrington’s SAT writing average is a 547, Smithfield’s is a 505 and Central Falls is a 376. Every NECAP and SAT score step down from Barrington to Smithfield to Central Falls.

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Attendance rate for Smithfield Senior High School 2011. Percentage of Smithfield Senior High School students eligible for subsidized lunch.

The states attendance rate target is 90%. Smithfield High school’s attendance rate is 95%, Barrington’s is 96% and Central Falls is 87%. All of these numbers seem positive, and even Central Falls while looking at their struggle to compete in test scores is close to the target rate. However, the percentages of chronic absenteeism are only 6% in Barrington, 17% in Smithfield, and 51% in Central Falls. Barrington’s 2011 graduation average was 96.6%, Smithfield’s was 92.1% and Central Falls was 70.8%. These numbers again represent the ascending and descending steps these three schools follow. In each of the four NECAP subjects, SAT, AYP status, attendance rates, chronic absenteeism, and graduation rate Barrington has been had the most positive resulting statistic with Smithfield not too far behind and Central Falls falling far below both of them in third. Now look at the median family income of each of these schools; Barrington $84,657, Smithfield $66,320, and Central Falls 26,844. Here’s per pupil expenditure for each town; Barrington $12,379, Smithfield $13,285, and Central Falls $14,347. Per Pupil Expenditures are calculated by dividing a district's operating costs by its average pupil membership. Even though Central Falls finishes last in all of those categorizes it still has the highest cost per student, explaining that a neighborhood of wealth and safety is going to promote learning and success for a student as apposed to an environment that spends more money per student.

Conclusion


These statistics give a good perspective on Smithfield Senior High School’s place in the state. Smithfield is not the best high school in the state by academic means but its one of the best and that level can be attributed to the wealth of the town and its ability to promote continued learning. Smithfield Senior High School is an excellent public school in Rhode Island that portrays the best realistic goal we can hope very high school in the state can reach.

References


http://infoworks.ride.ri.gov/school/smithfield-senior-high-school
www.census.gov
http://www.rikidscount.org/matriarch/documents/Smithfield_2012.pdf

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Author: (Person who wrote report.) Editor: Dan Murray

The purpose of the context statement in EDC 102 is to provide each student with an opportunity to demonstrate his or her ability to research a school, its district, and its community in order to better understand its strengths and challenges. Each report should describe their school based solely on evidence that they cite in their Reference section.

As a peer editor, your tasks are:

  • Read author's report.
  • Carefully evaluate report by assigning a score for each criterion
  • provide constructive comments that will help the strengthen the author's report for each category.
  • Create a link to your evaluation at the end of the report.

Introduction = 5/ 5 pts.


5 - Intro provides an overview of the upcoming analysis, including what school/district/community is being analyzed, what aspects are being analyzed, and who the report is intended to inform.
4 - Intro names the school/district/community and previews the scope of the report, but does not describe who the report is intended to inform.
3 - Intro names the school/district/community but not much else.
2 - Intro fails to name the school, district, and community.
0 - No introduction section is apparent.

Constructive comments about report's introduction: Excellent set up for what the reader was going to be presented with in the project.



Organization = 5/ 5 pts.


5 - Report includes an Introduction, a Conclusion, and sections for the School, District, and Community. Within each section, paragraphs logically group the information presented.
4 - Report includes all of the sections mentioned previously, but does not break down information into paragraphs within each section.
3 - Report is missing one of the sections.
2 - Report is missing more than one section.
0 - Report does not include any sections.

Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization: The project was organized in a very comprehensive manner.



Mechanics = 4/ 5 pts.


5 - All information in the report is cited using APA styled- citations after the information and in a Reference section at the end of the report.
and
There are extremely few typos and misspelled words in the report.
4 - Most information is cited using APA style.
and/or
There are a noticeable number of typos or misspellings.
3 - Some citations in the References section are not in APA style, e.g. URLs are listed without the title of the website.
and/or
There are many typos, misspellings, or other writing errors.
2 - Most of the report's information is not cited, or APA style was not used.
0 - Report does not include a Reference section.

Strengths and constructive comments about report's organization: No in text citations, strong mechanics otherwise.



Conclusion = 4/ 5 pts.


5 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community and describes why findings should be important to reader.
4 - Conclusion reviews analysis of school, district and community.
3 - Conclusion does not refer back to report findings.
0 - No conclusion section is apparent.

Strengths and constructive comments about conclusion:



Creativity = 4/ 5 pts.


5 - Report is written in an engaging style.
4 - Report has some interesting sections.
3 - Report generally reports information without seemingly without purpose.

Strengths and constructive comments about presentation: Very creative diagrams and pictures. Fun to read.



Thoroughness = 8/10 pts


5 - Report includes at least ten different facts in each section (school, community, district) and
compares each figure with another relevant figure (e.g. state or national average) and
states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards.
4 - Report includes at least eight different facts in each section and
compares most figures with relevant values and
states whether or not the school is meeting NCLB standards.
3 - Report includes at least six different facts in each section and
compares some of the figures to other relevant figures
2 - Report includes at least four different facts in each section and
compares some of the figures to other relevant figures.
0 - Report includes less than four different facts for any section or
fails to compare any figures with other relevant figures.

Very Thorough presentation, covered everything in a comprehensive, easy to read manner.
Overall: 31/35